Rep. Roy Urges Texas Leaders to Stand Strong Against ‘Woke Corporations’ and Leftist Mobs in the Fight for Election Integrity
WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) sent a letter to leaders in the Texas legislature urging them to ignore the "woke, corporate mobs" and support election integrity measures that will fight voter fraud and restore Texans' faith in their elections.
"As you consider measures to protect the integrity of Texas elections, please know you have many friends in Congress who will support you, and please know how important it is for Texas to lead that fight as we watch states around the country taking steps to strengthen their election laws," the letter begins.
"As we have seen the momentum building for election security laws, it has been greeted by many ‘leaders,' woke corporations, and ‘voter suppression' mobs with efforts to stop these common-sense reforms," Congressman Roy continues. "These efforts have spanned from misinformation campaigns, to corporate boycotts, and big business decisions to relocate sports games to new states. Texas should not fall idle to any of these attempts aimed at mischaracterizing and attacking election security."
The letter goes on to list specific policies to help ensure more secure elections in Texas. These include:
- Requiring voter identification for both in-person voting and absentee ballots
- Improving the integrity of mail-in ballots
- Prohibiting ballot harvesting
- Ensuring the integrity of voter registration rolls, including that only citizens are voting
- Providing oversight and ethics safeguards for counties accepting private money to fund government election operations
The letter also notes that "The people of Texas are on the side of election integrity," and cites polling showing that "three-fifths of all Texas voters, including most independent voters, believe additional measures to secure absentee ballots are necessary" and that less that one-fifth of Texas voters believe that extra voter integrity measures are unnecessary.
"Despite the spread of misinformation and self-indulging virtue-signaling by corporations, Texans know the truth: election reforms are a necessary, common-sense step to ensuring our elections are protected against potential fraud," the letter reads elsewhere. It concludes that "All lawmakers should support these important reforms and put the minds of Texans at ease by restoring confidence in the election process."
Full text of the letter is available at the link here and below:
The Honorable Dade Phelan
Speaker
Texas House of Representatives
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768
The Honorable Briscoe Cain
Chair
Committee on Elections
Texas House of Representatives
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768
The Honorable Dan Patrick
Lieutenant Governor
Office of Lieutenant Governor
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711
The Honorable Bryan Hughes
Chair
Committee on State Affairs
Texas State Affairs
Texas State Senate
P.O. Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711
Dear Colleagues,
As you consider measures to protect the integrity of Texas elections, please know you have many friends in Congress who will support you, and please know how important it is for Texas to lead that fight as we watch states around the country taking steps to strengthen their election laws. As we have seen the momentum building for election security laws, it has been greeted by many "leaders," woke corporations, and "voter suppression" mobs with efforts to stop these common-sense reforms. These efforts have spanned from misinformation campaigns, to corporate boycotts, and big business decisions to relocate sports games to new states. Texas should not fall idle to any of these attempts aimed at mischaracterizing and attacking election security.
Despite the spread of misinformation and self-indulging virtue-signaling by corporations, Texans know the truth: election reforms are a necessary, common-sense step to ensuring our elections are protected against potential fraud. Data clearly shows that voter fraud is an issue in our elections and any amount of fraud is too much fraud. As you know, since 2005 the Office of Attorney General (OAG) has successfully prosecuted 534 instances of fraud against 155 individuals. The OAG has 510 pending offenses against 43 individuals, and 234 active investigations. Additionally, at least 91 election fraud cases in Texas from 2005-2019 resulted in criminal convictions, sentencing to a diversion program, or judicial findings.
While these data underscore the need for election reforms in Texas, the fact is there are numerous recent cases that indicate the depth of the problem- which is that a single bad actor engaging in ballot harvesting or engaging in illegal activities to drive up vote totals can be engaging in dozens or hundreds of instances of fraud. Worse, fraud involving mail-in ballots is the hardest to prove- especially under our current system which lacks sufficient controls. The faith in the election system in Texas is at stake and, respectfully, failure to act fully and completely is not an option.
It is critical the Texas state legislature passes this session all reforms necessary to safeguard elections and inspire confidence in Texas voters. As you know, there are several pieces of legislation being circulated in the chamber including House Bill 6 and Senate Bill 7, introduced by my friends Briscoe Cain and Bryan Hughes, respectively. I was honored to testify in favor of House Bill 6- and I did so because I believe you all need to know Members of Congress, and millions of Texans have your back in the face of woke, corporate mobs threatening and attacking you.
I believe these proposals represent significant steps towards protecting poll watcher access, strengthening prohibitions against vote harvesting, and verifying that only eligible voters are on voting registration rolls- which is one of the most important reforms we can make. I would note as an aside, I introduced legislation in Washington to require (currently it is "allowed") DHS to provide information on citizenship to any state requests for purposes of maintain accurate voter rolls. Additionally, but as importantly as anything, House Bill 2478 which requires voter identification for absentee ballots represents a crucial provision in ensuring election integrity. These bills would create a more secure, more uniform voting process in Texas that maintains access for all voters.
Regardless of which legislative vehicles receive a final vote on the floor, I strongly encourage the legislature to put forth final bill text, taken in totality or in a single vehicle, for the Governor that includes safeguards for elections, including but not limited to:
- Requiring voter identification for both in-person voting and absentee ballots
- Improving the integrity of mail-in ballots
- Prohibiting ballot harvesting
- Ensuring the integrity of voter registration rolls, including that only citizens are voting
- Providing oversight and ethics safeguards for counties accepting private money to fund government election operations
The people of Texas are on the side of election integrity. Recent polling shows that three-fifths of all Texas voters, including most independent voters, believe additional measures to secure absentee ballots are necessary. Additionally, according to polling published by the Dallas Morning News, Texas voters remain supportive of the proposals in the state legislature- a direct contradiction to the false narrative being spread by woke mobs. Of note, "60% of voters support additional requirements beyond signature verification to increase ‘election integrity,' while only 18% thought additional requirements are unnecessary."
While the media spin on this has grown louder, I stand with each of you to tune out the noise and remain focused on the goal of making it easy to vote and hard to cheat in the great state of Texas. All lawmakers should support these important reforms and put the minds of Texans at ease by restoring confidence in the election process.
Sincerely,
Chip Roy
Member of Congress